The Home Studio Mastering Primer - New Artist Model

Loudness War This is the phenomenon of the seemingly never ending saga of trying to constantly master music as loud as possible, and even louder!! Up un:l 2017 the Loudness War was in full bloom. Is it over? Yes, I’d say it’s preSy much over. However, in its place is a Cold War that has brought with it even more unrest and confusion than the War Itself! You’ll want to study the remainder of this glossary for sure, because the confusion being created needlessly about mastering for streaming services -- is about to disappear. LUFS If you haven’t already, you will soon be hearing two words being used in connec:on with Mastering for Streaming Services: one is minus fourteen LUFS and the other is, believe it or not, Penalty!! lucra5vehomestudio.com 11

You’ll be happy to know that I am NOT going to explain to you in detail what -14 LUFS means in scien:fic detail and how you need to get a bunch of special metering plug-ins and special limiter plug-ins to save you from the PENALTY involved in ge ng it wrong! God forbid! Penalty is an actual term being used by a company selling a special plug-in for making sure you get it right. However, as you will discover, I do not agree with using a nega:ve term that tends to lower the confidence of a home studio owner, and just adds to the already confusing mess of conflic:ng informa:on out there. A simple explana:on of -14 LUFS. LUFS stands for Loudness Units Rela:ve to Full Scale. It’s a measurement of loudness over a period of :me (in this case, the dura:on of an en:re song or instrumental piece) Technically it is called -14 LUFS Integrated. Integrated simply means for the en:re dura:on of a recording. -14 LUFS Integrated is the Loudness standard that SPOTIFY has adopted. Here’s what I want you to remember about -14 LUFS - it’s a good thing because it’s not as loud as the earlier Loudness War levels. I also want you to know that, contrary to what many people are spreading, it is absolutely NOT vital that you master all your tracks exactly at this level. In fact, it’s beSer if you master your tracks slightly louder than this level. S:ck around to find out why - and exactly how to do that in three simple stupid steps. Since Spo:fy is so popular among fans and music creators, this par:cular number -14 is being talked about a lot. lucra5vehomestudio.com 12

To make things even more confusing, other streaming services have adopted other standards. I also will not go into all of the other standards, because it may lead you to believe you have to do something about the various standards. Here’s the good news: Do you need a separate master for each streaming service? No! Believe it or not, there are people advising others and teaching others how to export separate masters for each streaming service. The problem? Most distributors such as CD Baby or DistroKid or TuneCore ask for one file for all services. The main point I’m trying to make is that a tsunami of confusion has just hit the music industry on the subject of mastering for licensing, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to put in over 200 hours of research on the subject so that I can help steer you clear of the confusion. lucra5vehomestudio.com 13

When you are in your final stages of mastering - which would normally be using your limiter, Raise your threshold un:l a simple RMS meter is averaging between -10 and -14 RMS ON THE LOUDEST SECTION OF YOUR RECORDING and set the Ceiling of your Limiter to -0.5dB. RMS stands for Root Mean Squared. You don’t need to know what it stands for, so don’t worry. All you need to know is that an RMS meter is like riding a bike and using an LUFS Meter is like flying a jet - when all you’re doing is going to the corner store for some Ben & Jerry’s. I’ll take the bike, thank you. Almost all DAWs have RMS meters. If not, there are simple free RMS meters available online. What I discovered in my research was that if I kept my RMS Meter between -10 and -14 on the loudest sec:on of any given track, the result was that my tracks were compliant with not only streaming services, but also with licensing end-users, for CDs, CasseSes and even Vinyl! You will end up with tracks that are slightly louder than the LUFS standard for streaming, which is a good thing. The streaming service will turn your track down slightly, but no worries. It will be the same for everyone. It’s called Loudness Normaliza:on - they are turning louder tracks down and turning quieter tracks up. The problem with quieter tracks is that they use a limiter to turn them up - so you could end up with a problem, such as clipping (distor:on). lucra5vehomestudio.com 14

Also know that SoundCloud does not use Loudness Normaliza:on, so if you try to match the specs of Spo:fy, your SoundCloud streams will sound quieter than most other tracks. Also, iTunes does not turn quieter tracks up, so it’s beSer to be a bit above the specs. Basic Fundamental Mastering Chain There is no “perfect” or “must-do” mastering chain of effects to use on any given mix. Mastering is as much an art as it is a science. However, in observing and producing hundreds of pro mastering sessions, here is a Basic Fundamental Mastering Chain of effects (plug-ins are just as good, if not beSer, than their analog counter-parts). I say this aUer personally conduc:ng 5,800 hours of research on the difference between analog and digital recording, mixing and mastering. EQ COMPRESSION LIMITING Not only do these three effects make up the most widely used chain for mastering in the industry, but they are also usually used in this order. This does NOT mean that you have to use any of these plug-ins or that they have to be in this order. However, it’s a good star:ng point. Experiment and use your ear to determine which effects, and in which order, give you the best sounding master for any par:cular track. lucra5vehomestudio.com 15

EQ or Equaliza8on Adjus:ng (and saving the parameters) of the volume of low frequencies, mid frequencies and high frequencies in a mix, in order to bring about the best emo:onal impact possible for that recording. Search & Destroy (EQ Technique) Using a thin band of frequencies, raising one node of an EQ plug-in or processor, and sweeping it to the right and the leU un:l a problem frequency is heard. That specific frequency is then pulled down below the flat line of the EQ plug-in or processor, a small bit at a :me while listening, un:l the mix either sounds beSer, or not. One determines if the frequency found is a problem by lowering it (with eyes closed) and listening to see if there is a sweet spot below the flat line that sounds beSer. If not, no need to lower it. lucra5vehomestudio.com 16

Compressor / Compression A compressor is simply an automa:c volume adjustment device. More specifically it turns down the volume only where any sound rises up above a certain threshold. On most compressors, you can manually set the threshold. Sounds that are lower in volume than the threshold do not get affected by the compressor, they stay the same loudness as they already were. A common use of a compressor includes “make-up gain.” That’s a knob on most compressors where, aUer you set up the threshold and the compressor is doing its thing, you can then turn the overall volume of that track up. This results in the loudest sounds being closer in volume to the soUer sounds, and the overall volume of that track higher than before (if the “make-up gain” was turned up). The boSom line is that the compressor can make a performance sound smoother and fuller, with less differences between the loudest and soUest parts of that performance. lucra5vehomestudio.com 17

Compression can be used on any instrument, any voice and even on the overall mix. What you are doing with your compressor is listening for any kick hits, or snare hits, or loud effects or momentary short dura:on loud sounds, which are called transients. If you hear loud transients, you are going to adjust your compressor, star:ng with the threshold at -20dB and the ra:o at 2 to 1, so that these loud transients are tamed, are turned down a bit, in other words are compressed. Limiter Limi:ng is similar to Compressing, but instead of averaging out the loudness and soUness of a track, the Limiter can be set to just increase the overall volume level of the track itself, while Limi:ng the maximum upper end volume of the track to ensure it doesn’t distort or damage the speakers. Limi:ng also has a side benefit; a side-effect as it were, of making a track sound “beefier” and more “punchy.” lucra5vehomestudio.com 18

Here is a limiter in ac:on. No:ce the threshold is now at -2.1 which means the volume of my master is coming up - it’s ge ng louder. The lower you adjust the threshold, the louder the track becomes. Also no:ce the margin, or ceiling, is set at -0.5. The ceiling stops the loudest sounds from ge ng any louder than -0.5 decibels, so that your music will not go over 0 and clip, which means go into the red and distort. You can see the meter on the right literally has a ceiling of -0.5 at the top. You can’t see it because it’s too small, but I’ve clicked on prevent inter-sample clipping. This is important when it comes to streaming as you will find out soon. If you don’t see “prevent inter-sample clipping” on your limiter, than look for the words True Peak, and check that off. A workable target loudness to shoot for in mastering your tracks, with the limiter usually being your final effect, as shown in the illustra:on above, is anywhere between minus 10 and minus 14 RMS. lucra5vehomestudio.com 19

Part 2: Alphabe4cal Glossary of Music Produc4on Terms — A/B A/B can be a verb, “to A/B” or a noun, “listen to this A/B.” A/B means to compare. To compare “A” to “B.” For a Home Studio Owner, the most effec:ve way to consistently create radio-ready mixes and masters is to A/B recordings to successful commercially released recordings; to A/B original recordings to reference tracks. Several videos in The Lucra:ve Home Studio program go into A/B’ing in great detail, demonstra:ng specific workflow approaches to A/B’ing, both during mixing and mastering. Analog A workable defini:on of analog for a Home Studio Owner would cover any device or process that serves a func:on of recording, edi:ng, mixing or mastering - that is not computerbased. Such as tape machines and outboard gear which does not u:lize computer-based digital technology (such as a compressor that uses tubes and electronic circuitry without digital computer-based circuitry). lucra5vehomestudio.com 20

Note: Some equipment sold as “analog” are actually computerbased digital devices dressed up as analog. Analog also can be defined as the science and the art of capturing sound in real-:me, on real-:me media, rather than digital media which captures sound “every other moment” and fills in the moments in between. The analog capturing of sound is con:nuous. However, modern digital recording captures sound so quickly (48 kHz recording, as an example, records a sound event 48 thousand :mes per second), that the ear hears the flow of playback as con:nuous. In double blind-fold muted tests, I discovered with over 5,800 hours of research at a mul:-million dollar recording facility in Tampa, Florida (Springs Theatre Studios “The Abbey Road of America”), that the idea that analog recordings were and are superior to digital recordings is a myth. I don’t ask you to agree with me or believe me, but if someone can show me research findings to the contrary, I’ll be the first to adopt the findings. For a Home Studio Owner, the research findings I discovered and compiled form a large part of The Lucra:ve Home Studio program. And I offer you hard evidence and proof to back-up my findings. The good news is that you can be rest assured that your liSle digital home studio can equal and even surpass the quality and output, quality-wise, of any pro studio - analog or digital! lucra5vehomestudio.com 21

And that informa:on and educa:on is something I categorize as a Confidence Builder. Confidence Builders, as opposed to Confidence Killers, are what allow any Home Studio owner to take full control of their career and poten:ally rise to A-List status in the industry. Checkerboard A/B A process and a resul:ng exported audio file, called a “Checkerboard A/B File,” which is the most powerful process and tool for any Home Studio Owner that will necessarily lead closer and closer to radio-ready mixes and masters for anyone who applies this procedure. A Checkerboard A/B file is a stereo file (wav or mp3) exported from a DAW containing approx. 5 seconds of your mix, 5 seconds of your reference track, 5 seconds of your mix, 5 seconds of your reference track, etc., seamlessly edited with no silence in between, with the volume of your mix and the reference track exactly matched (for mixing) to the volume level of your mix (not the volume level of the reference), and matched to the volume level of the reference track (for mastering) as close as desired by the ar:st, producer and/or engineer. The Science behind the efficiency of a Checkerboard A/B file has to do with the fact that if any physical movement takes place (such as clicking a mouse or flipping a switch) while A/ B’ing -- and/or if any silence exists between A and B, the mind lucra5vehomestudio.com 22

will “adjust the ears,” and it will be impossible to truly A/B the recordings you are trying to compare. Once the process is put on automa:c, with no physical movement of the person listening, with the ability of the person to close their eyes and listen, a true and actual comparison can be made, bypassing any auditory or mental illusions inherent in all other forms of “A/B’ing.” In other words, if you want to know exactly where you and your mix stands in rela:on to the industry, then the only way to know for sure, without second guessing and without falling prey to the many illusions that occur during tradi:onal forms of “A/B’ing,” then the one fail-safe way to find out is to understand and apply the technology and process of “Checkerboard A/B’ing.” Compressor / Compression A compressor is simply an automa:c volume adjustment device. More specifically it turns down the volume only where any sound rises up above a certain threshold. On most compressors, you can manually set the threshold. Sounds that are lower in volume than the threshold do not get affected by the compressor, they stay the same loudness as they already were. A common use of a compressor includes “make-up gain.” That’s a knob on most compressors where, aUer you set up the threshold and the compressor is doing its thing, you can then turn the overall volume of that track up. lucra5vehomestudio.com 23

This results in the loudest sounds being closer in volume to the soUer sounds, and the overall volume of that track higher than before (if the “make-up gain” was turned up). The boSom line is that the compressor can make a performance sound smoother and fuller, with less differences between the loudest and soUest parts of that performance. Compression can be used on any instrument, any voice and even on the overall mix. Engineer, Home Studio A Home Studio engineer is a fun hat to wear. It’s so fun, in fact, that most Home Studio enthusiasts wear ONLY that hat. And that, really is the only problem with this aspect of Home Studio tracking, mixing and mastering. The engineer is the knob twirling, fader sliding, mouse clicking whiz kid who keeps his or her aSen:on on the details of the recording process, and is directly hands-on when it comes to making adjustments. It’s important to note that the engineer is subordinate to the producer, and in a smooth running studio, the engineer listens to and follows the direc:ons of the producer. Whereas in a pro studio, where you oUen find two separate people wearing the hats of engineer and producer, in a Home Studio se ng, you most oUen find one person wearing both hats. Therefore, it is important, vital actually, that when wearing the hat of engineer, you remember that you are primarily and most importantly also a producer. lucra5vehomestudio.com 24

That means you should take a breath, take a break and switch hats on a regular basis during any tracking, edi:ng, mixing or mastering session - go into a nearby phone booth somewhere, change your super-hero costume and exit as super-producer! The quality of your mixes and masters will increase in a huge way. Finished or Completed Track (When to STOP working on your mix) No emo:onal weak links for the listener, from the very first note to the last moment of silence. Gain Staging Inside a D.A.W. (Digital Audio Worksta:on, such as Logic, Cubase, Ableton, ProTools, etc.), all the tracks in a mix eventually flow over to the Stereo Buss Out. The Stereo Buss Out is a Stereo Channel (LeU and Right) which sends the audio it receives from all of the separate tracks directly to your speakers. The Stereo Buss Out, therefore, is like a funnel. If you allow the volume levels of all of your separate tracks to get out of control while mixing, the Stereo Buss Out will receive so much volume that it will “go into the red” and start “clipping” (unwanted distor:on). lucra5vehomestudio.com 25

Gain Staging is a term used to describe the process by which a mixing engineer manages the volume levels of all the different separate tracks, as well as the volume of the Stereo Buss Out itself, in order to avoid clipping. Gain Staging, though this isn’t usually taught, can be handled very simply, without any slightest loss of quality, by simply turning down the Stereo Buss Out fader. This is assuming that none of your separate tracks themselves are distor:ng. Harmonic Exciter This is usually set up in a “Mul:-Band” set up, much like the Compressor. Accordingly, you can choose any part of the Low, Mid or High Frequency Spectrum and adjust the amount of Harmonic Exciter applied to that frequency range. What does a Harmonic Exciter do exactly? Well, it actually applies a small amount of pleasing distor:on to a track (that’s right, sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Pleasing Distor:on – but that’s exactly what it is, a certain type of distor:on (not the kind you hear from a guitar amp!). Used in very small doses, this type of distor:on actually creat

Here's a big Myth: Mastering is harder than mixing. Think about it. That makes absolutely no sense. A ridiculous statement that "everybody knows." Once you learn what Mastering really is and how to do it, you'll see what I mean. In any given mixing session there are more than a hundred decisions to be made per hour. In any given mastering session